Your friendly neighbourhood geek

How do I add line numbers to a Word document?

Hi there. I’m reviewing some poems with a group of students and it would be great if I could add line numbers to the document to help with the review process. Is this possible?

Sometimes when working with people on a document it can be useful to number the lines so it is easier to describe them. Click the Page Layout tab on the ribbon and then look for the Page Setup section.

There should be three icons down the right-hand side of the section. Click on the middle icon that has numbers on it. If the Word window is wide enough, the icon will have the legend Line Numbers.

There are several options that cover whether the line numbers should restart and when. Click on the last option to see the advanced options. This will open the Page Setup window.

Click on the Line numbers button at the bottom to change the number to start counting from and the number to count by. This last option could be used to count the lines in tens if you want to make it easier to add new lines into the document.